Shutdown vote reveals 2018 vs. 2020 Democratic divide

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (left) and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson were back on the same side in today’s vote to end a government shutdown. (George Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)

Less than 72 hours after voting for a federal government shutdown, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson and most of his Democratic colleagues reversed course today on a vote clearing the way to reopening the government.

While Democrats insisted Friday that a spending bill include Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections against deportation for young non-citizens who were brought to the U.S. by their parents, today’s agreement only includes a pledge from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. to begin debate on an immigration bill by Feb. 8.

Today’s vote revealed a divide within the Democratic caucus, as Nelson and eight other senators up for re-election this year in states that Donald Trump carried in 2016 voted to end the shutdown. (The lone exception was Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, who faces re-election this year in a state Trump won by 20 points.)

The 18 votes against the shutdown deal included 16 Democrats and conservative Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah.

With the Democratic party’s liberal base strongly supporting DACA and other reforms to create a pathway to citizenship, the Democratic “no” votes included several senators who have been mentioned as potential 2020 candidates for president: Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and sought the party’s 2016 nomination, also was a “no” vote.